The First Week
by Iyearnforaplotadvancement
Summary: Making friends is hard. Making friends on Pandora is even harder. But with people like these, can they survive a week with each other?
1. Chapter 1

Yay, another story. Taking a short break from my other Borderlands story this one is the first week of the six Vault Hunters meeting each other. They get about as far as Sanctuary. 'Cause that takes about a week right? I dunno. I'm gonna guest-imate.

So tell me how you like it. I'm hoping to get this into a seven part series, last chapter being at the end of the game. So review, tell me how you like it and enjoy.

* * *

BL2 intro

Day 1 (Maya and Krieg)

Maya looked down at the Echo recorder for a few more seconds then took her finger off the button and set the device on the nightstand. In the tiny and worn down Inn she sat, cross-legged, on the bed. She wanted to sleep but unfortunately her mind was preoccupied with the future events of tomorrow.

She wrung her hands nervously, it wasn't like her to fidget, oh how Brother Sophis would scold her. The monks at the monastery taught her that 'patience is a virtue". She remembers numerous fights she had in her youth about that golden rule. "When am I ever going to need that" was a common argument exchanged between her and The Brothers. But she's since left that and there's no need to open up closed wounds. Not so soon anyway.

So instead she focuses at the small little bug crawling up the opposite wall to her. She sticks her arm out right and makes a fist. A dark purple orb surrounds the bug. Maya watches as the bug stays in the orb, frozen. A perk of being an all powerful siren is getting powers like these.

"Feels good to Phaselock." She jokes. After a bit she releases the bug and lets it skitter away.

However it also helps to have a trusty gun by her side. Maya glances over at her Maliwan SMG that sits close to her on the bed. It was one of the few things she owned since coming to Pandora. She picks it up and rubs away a spot on the gun. She smiles.

Crawling under the covers she closes her eyes and tries to fall asleep.

…

The next day Maya boards her train with her Echo device and gun hanging off a belt strapped to her back. She takes the Echo device off her belt and starts recording.

"Day two on Pandora. Nobody here's used to seeing a Siren. Half the people I've met wanna worship me-the other half wanna turn me over to Hyperion. Still, it's a nice change of pace from the abbey-at least here the bad guys stab you from the front. I haven't found a shred of info about Sirens-the closest I've got to a lead on Siren history are legends of an alien Vault. It's not much to go on, but it's something-maybe if I find this Vault I'll find out where the hell Sirens come from. Or maybe I'll prove Brother Harker right and take a bullet to the head five minutes from now. We'll see how my week goes"

As the train pulls into the station and she gets into the passenger car she takes a seat next to a girl. The hood from her jacket was pulled over the girl's head. Maya knows not to judge. Her stare doesn't linger but she for sure sees the girl has a metal arm.

"That's quite an appendage there." Maya comments as the train starts moving. The girl looks up and Maya realizes the girl is very young. She couldn't be out of her teens.

The girl smiles a bit. "Yeah, I made it myself."

Maya nods her head, impressed. She wants to say more but there's something about the girl that tells Maya she won't share much more than the origins of her robotic arm. So Maya keeps her distance and quiet. Soon the girl gets off at her stop and that's the end of it.

…

"Ladies and gentlemen I'm sorry to inform you. We've come to some technical difficulties in the engine room. We will be stopping shortly in the town of Dirt Spot where there is another scheduled train to take you to your destination."

Maya woke groggily to the sound of the scratchy voice over the intercom. Vaguely she heard something about a dirt spot and technical difficulties. She sat up straight from her slouched position and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She wanted to stay awake but just couldn't. The train was cold and it rocked almost soothingly. She would scold herself later for being careless.

The message played over the intercom once more. "And sorry for the inconvenience."

Maya cursed under her breath. "Grrrreeeeaaat." She rasped as she readied herself to exit the train. She knew that now they were somewhere in the desert. The train doors opened and Maya stepped out on the platform. She winced as the harsh sun burned her eyes and the heat singed her skin. She stood and watched as the train rolled away. The announcement said something about a forty minute wait. She rolled her eyes in frustration. Her memories of waiting in the monastery came back again.

"Patience is a virtue, child."

"When am I ever going to need that?"

…

_Somewhere in the same town_…

He sat on a rock, enthusiastically tapping his buzz axe against a rock. The violent side of him enjoyed the clanking metal. It reminded him of when he'd use the primitive tool to grind down on the skulls of enemies. That of which was an activity he wanted to partake in.

From the outside he's nothing more than a common psychotic bandit getting way too much enjoyment out of a crudely crafted buzz axe made from a buzz saw and an axe handle. But on the inside he's calm and mindful and a good person…and bored.

His outer self is bored too. But unlike his inside which can control his emotions, his outside has a harder time keeping his composure.

Soon a person, bandit he assumes, walks by. Being the Psycho he is,(and the term isn't used here as an expression) he gets up and prepares his buzz saw.

_"__Here we go…" _ He says inside his head. His outer self starts stretching and slapping his head trying to get into his killing mode.

He wasn't always like this. The inner self likes to believe he was a good person. A good, sane, even-tempered person who had a life and a job. Vaguely he remembers something about running odd jobs for money. But then old Hyperion came by and snatched him up and ran their experiments on him. Now everything is a big blur and some days he can't even remember trivial things, like directions. Not that anyone but him cares.

Over time it seems that he's become two people. He's all inside out now. The violent, angry, and mostly psychotic part of him is on the outside while the calmer, quieter part fights for dominance.

His outer self growls.

_"__I know. I know Big Guy. Just… hold on."_ He tries, but the outer self doesn't hold off for long. Soon he's running towards the unsuspecting bandit.

_"__Start running, Bandit." _ The inner self warns. But even if the bandit did, the outer self would chase him down. The killing used to bother him, but he's since grown used to it. It's not like he can stop it from happening anyways.

On a nearby piece of metal that was once a gate the Psycho gets leverage by jumping on it. He screeches his battle cry, "I HAVE THE SHINEST MEAT BICYCLE!" and lands on the bandit. The buzz-axe placed firmly in the bandit's head.

Sometime time later he is walking along the train tracks flipping and catching his buzz saw as his inner self tries to gain his attention.

"I'M READY FOR A SPINE TINGLER!" The psychotic part of him screams.

_" __Yeah. Great. Hey, remember back when we were sane?" _The inner voice proposes. This is a game they've played over and over.

"SHE CAN TASTE THE BLOODY HATRED."

_"__Guess not… Still can't hear me can ya? Little voice in your head trying to remind you of a time when we could go hours, days even without screaming about our desire to ride bicycles made of meat? I don't even-."_

He stops a moment and looks down feeling vibrations under his feet. Before the sane part of him can force the decision to move his psychotic part turns and around looking wide-eyed at the oncoming train and jumps off, almost not making it.

As he regains his composure he notices for once someone is on the platform at the station.

From what the sane side can recollect he knows for sure it's a woman obviously, but there was something special about her. And then he realizes that it's a Siren.

The Siren turns slightly and inspects the SMG in her arms.

It's a beautiful Siren.

…

"What the hell? Is that a Psycho?"

Maya turned around upon hearing the thud. She comes to see a Psycho. She was told by many people that they were bandits of sorts, turned mad by the Eridium fumes from all the mining.

He's bigger than the normal Psychos, Maya takes it that he's mutated from all the mining.

They stare and come closer to each other. Maya stops halfway in the steps leading to the platform when the Psycho screams, "I'M THE CONDUCTOR OF THE POOP TRAIN!"

She cocks an eyebrow and then takes a knee, aiming her SMG at the man. The Psycho scrambles and finds cover near a giant rock.

She's so concerned with trying to kill him that she doesn't notice the gang of bandits known as Rats coming for her.

…

Inside his head the sane part is trying to gain control.

_"__Tell her to look back now!" _he commands noticing the Rats.

The Psycho pops up and waves his weapon. "Strip the flesh!" it rare moments like these when his psychotic part and his sane part try to work together. Like dance partners, one leads while the other follows, but unfortunately with the inner and outer personalities, it's like a ballroom dance teacher trying to get his partner to stop pop and locking.

_"__No listen to me." _the sane part commands.

"Salt the wound!" The psychotic part remarks.

_" __Yes. We'll salt all the wounds later. But right now if you don't tell her to turn around now she's gonna die and it's gonna be _your_ fault."_

Psycho growls and stands up from behind his cover. Mustering what sanity he can scavenge he yells, "HHHRRRG-TURN AROUND PRETTY LAAAADYYYY!"

…

Maya stops firing and watches as the Psycho's axe lands in the head of a Rat. Soon the Psycho is standing on the man's shoulders pulling his weapon out of the Rat's skull and moving onto his next kill. In a matter of seconds he decimated the group and scares one to death.

Maya is about to thank the Psycho but the maniacal laughter of a Rat burns her ears. She sees the Rat lunge for the Psycho and catches him just in time. Trapped in the dark purple sphere, the Rat tries to struggle but can't.

The Psycho turns to Maya who steps towards him and nods. Jumping high the Psycho brings down the axe into the Rat's body.

After he claims the buzz-saw from the body he looks at Maya.

"I POWDERED MY COCKATIEL FOR THE RIBCAGE SLAUGHTER!" The Psycho screams. Maya at first is confused but then smiles and nods.

This one is different.

The train conductor yells at the pair saying it'll be leaving in five minutes.

Maya looks at the Psycho. She wonders if he'll follow her. She utters her thank-you and steps into the train. She watches through the open doors as the Psycho stands there looking at her. The doors start to close and the train jolts forward. She's temporarily thrown off-balance, when she regains herself the doors are almost together. For a minute she could have sworn she saw the Psycho step towards the train.

When the doors finally shut she's stands there a few minutes longer.

"Excuse me miss." A heavily accented voice says to her. "You don't want to stand too close to those."

She turns around to see a stout and short man sitting on a bench looking at her. His feet are swinging. He gives her a tiny smile that's friendly. She walks to the bench opposite him.

He reaches out a portly arm. "I'm Salvador, the Gunzerker." He says.

"Maya. The…" She says clasping his arm with her own. Her voice falters, not wanting to finish her sentence. Her dominant hand is her left, Salvador sees this and changes hands. As he's shaking her hand he notices the tattoos on her arm.

Maya notes his pause and thinks he's going to say something about her. But he just lets her hand go and swings his feet some more.


	2. Chapter 2

**Yay, so originally my conditions were, "Get at least three reviews and continue." I'd still like to do that. But I got a lot of followers(well more than my other stories anyway) for the first chapter and I figured that was more than enough reason to continue.**

**Opening title sequence. Everyone's here! I can feel the next chapter is going to be long. So when I get it done I'll update for you lovely people. So really if it's not too much of a bother, please, review. Thanks for your support.**

* * *

Day 2 (The Vault Hunters)

Along the way Salvador and Maya meet Zero and Axton.

They all introduce themselves to one another. Maya and Salvador come to know Axton as an ex-Dahl soldier, he'd "gone commando" as he put it but, "Not in that way" with a slight laugh. For most of the trip he's seated next to Maya, cleaning this rocket launcher he wouldn't put down. He made for a pretty interesting conversationalist.

Zero, the man who came in last, is nothing short of strange, dressed from head to toe in a black armor plated body suit and wearing a curved helmet that's shaped in such an odd way that the possibility of being human is ruled out. Maya notices a sword on his back. From what little she's gathered he tells her he worked in private affairs, all told in Haiku no less.

So now they all sit chatting. The more they talk they realize they have a common enemy on this planet, Hyperion.

"So, what are you guys here for?" Axton asks, looking up at a billboard hanging above them. There was something creepy about the happily smiling man known as Handsome Jack; Axton couldn't quite place it though. "Welcome Vault Hunters" It reads.

"I came looking for the Vault, actually." Maya responds. "I doubt anyone here would really turn me in, seeing as though we're all running from the same thing, but um… I wanted to learn more about my Siren linage."She finishes showing off her tattooed arm.

"Aw no way, me too." Salvador adds. "Well. I don't want to learn about Siren linage. I just want loot. The Hyperion soldier whose legs and arm I broke promised loot."

"A challenge was here. My work became tedious. The Vault beckoned me." Zero said. Axton nodded.

"I guess we're all after the same thing, then." Axton stated.

"Hey yeah. We could form a team!" Salvador proclaimed.

"Vault Hunters, I think they call 'em." Maya mumbled quietly.

A screeching sound over the intercom gained the group's attention.

"Attention all passengers, we are about to enter the Windshear Wastes, a little known fact about the Wastes , this is actually the final resting place of all of the scum of Pandora, Including Vault Hunters. And for the four _special_ guest residing in box number twelve, Handsome Jack will be waiting in box car one."

"Uh… Did I hear that guy right?" Axton asks looking up at the speakers. The billboard drops, revealing another underneath. The once happy smile is now mischievous. The message printed along with it now says, "Welcome Vault Hunters- To Your Doom. (Nothing Personal)"

From the other end of the car two Hyperion robots activated. The four tensed. Axton, who stood closest, motioned for the others to run. Zero disappeared as Salvador exited the car, hanging off the side. Maya took off down a bit further down the car, followed by Axton.

"Got a plan, Commando? We're running out of train." Maya asked as Axton caught up.

"I got one." He replied. Axton turned around and threw out a small silver pad. The pad laid flat on the floor and expanded forming a large gun. The gun fired tearing apart one robot in succession. Axton turned to see Maya standing face to face with two other robots.

"Watch it!" He calls pulling out his rocket launcher and firing. The rocket hits the robot square in the chest sending metal and scraps flying. Maya shields herself with her arms. As Axton reloads Maya uses her Siren powers on the robot second robot.

The dark purple orb closes around the robot as Maya throws it out the train. Hopefully she'll have enough time to reach the SMG slung across her back before another other one starts firing.

…

Salvador just misses getting hit by the Hyperion robot Maya has thrown out. He takes this as his cue as he jumps back into the train car and unleashes the wrath of two of his more highly powered guns on the new wave of robots.

With her own SMG spitting out bullets, Maya takes notice of Salvador laughing and firing off round after round of lead and nimbly moves out of his way. But in his euphoria he barely notices his aim is off a bit and shoots the SMG out of Maya's arms, just missing her.

"Sonofa- Salvador!" She yells towards him. Even though she knows he can't possibly hear her.

She rolls her eyes and continues to use her Phaselock to fling the robots out of the train car and into each other.

…

And just as the trio inside the box car is trying to thin out the last of the Hyperion robots, Zero is on top of the train. His original objective was to find the box car this, "Handsome Jack" awaits in. But now he is faced with a different challenge.

"Hey, Ninja Boy." A man says in a gruff voice. Zero promptly faces him-well them.

The two men seemed to be employed by Hyperion judging from the armor. The man who made the comment steps forward and punches Zero through the gut. Little does the man know, Zero's been gone for some time.

Using what Zero calls Deception, his body suit turns invisible and projects a hologram. Using this as a diversion Zero steps behind the second Hyperion man, shoving his katana through him. He performs a forward flip over the man and with perfect timing, pushes the second man onto the other side of the exposed katana using his feet.

They fall skewered together, on top of each other. Zero saunters by and pulls the sword from them dropping in through a hatch on the roof. Zero drops in right behind Salvador who turns around a bit. It's an interesting contrast, Zero, 6"4, Salvador, 5"4.

"Where ya been, buddy." Salvador asks, holding guns in both hands.

Zero points up.

"Oh."

…

"Everyone ready?" Axton asks in box car one, his hand resting on the door where it was said Handsome Jack was waiting for them.

Everyone confirms with a nod.

Axton steps back and kicks in a downward motion at the door. It swings open, hitting the wall and swinging back slightly.

It doesn't take long for the group to see the room stuffed with explosives.

A single swivel chair spins around revealing a Jack mannequin stuffed with dynamite. A recording of Jack's voice plays.

"It's cute that y'all think you're the heroes of this little _adventure_, but you're not. Welcome to Pandora, Kiddos."

Instinctively everyone starts running. But that doesn't stop the train from being blown apart and off the tracks.

Axton in a futile effort tries to shield his face as the box car spins in the air and screeches to a halt onto the ground. The last thing he sees is a piece of the box car wall headed towards him, and then everything fades to black.


	3. Chapter 3

Oh mah gawd..

Well this was long. Like i'd said last chapter. I wasn't sure where I wanted to go when i did this but I think this came out good. If anything seems screwy-characters or anything really- lemme know. Remember, three reviews and I'll post the next chapter. Up at this point 3 or 4 parts left. Woo! Thanks for the follows and support. I really appreciate.

* * *

Axton wakes, the first thing he feels is cold. His hands under him are numb and heavy.

He barely manages to lift his head, out of his eyes he sees a V shaped yellow robot digging in the ground with a shovel. The robot stands on one wheel.

"Another dead Vault Hunter, Handsome Jack's been busy." It says.

Axton drags himself forward but a sharp pain in his rib stops him. He groans. Looking up he notices there are dead bodies and junk lying around, blocking the wind a bit.

"Wait a minute - you're not dead! YES! Now I can get off this glacier! Claptrap, your metaphorical ship has finally come in!"

He watched as the robot moved around, it almost looked like dancing. Slowly Axton rose. He looked around. Aside from pieces of train littered over the place there was the piles of dead bodies, some frozen, some freshly dead and still burning.

_No._ Axton thought, _No, I can't be the only one. _He thought in reference to the three Vault Hunters he'd met earlier that day. He should be used to this feeling. He'd been in the military for over a decade before this. Waking up hours, days later even, after an explosion. Finding all his fellow soldiers' dead wasn't a foreign experience to him.

Mustering up what voice he could he called out. "Anybody out there? Sound off!"

He counted to three in his head. And then a small moan echoed off somewhere in the distance.

He was sure as hell that had to be Salvador.

"Sal! Buddy!" Axton called.

"Aye… Amigo…over here." Axton glances over the icy terrain and sees a patch of orange stand out right near a corpse pile.

He trudges, shaking, over to Salvador.

"What…da hell…man." Salvador says breathlessly as Axton sits him up right and gets him to stand.

"Yeah, yeah. I'mma…I'm alright. Where's the ninja? Or the Siren?" Salvador asks taking a moment to adjust to standing.

"I-I don't kn-kn-know…" Axton replies through chattering teeth. "Th-th last I saw them, they were f-f-f-flailing in the box car like e-e-everyone else."

Salvador and Axton look around together. In the distance Axton sees the robot wave to them. Axton points to the machine.

"Over there. He-he may be able to help." Salvador nods at Axton as they approach it.

"Allow me to introduce myself!" The little yellow robot chimed. "I am CL4P-."

"Yeah-yeah-yeah, great. Hey, have you seen our friends? Blue haired woman, tattoos? A tall guy wearing black?" Axton cuts in right before a stiff wind blows by and Axton and Salvador shudder violently.

"Oh! You mean this one?" The robot asks as he dips behind a body pile and drags a woman by the hair out. "You're in luck. She's almost half alive!" he explains cheerily.

Salvador and Axton walk over to her and hunch over her.

"Maya?" Axton asks dipping down on one knee to survey her. He takes her head in his and turns her face side to side. Luckily there's minimal damage. The only thing that seems to be wrong is gash on the right thigh.

Axton gently shakes her. "Maya, Maya? Siren, you alive?" He stares at her.

"C'mon, Chica. Get up." Salvador aids.

Maya rest in Axton's hands and slowly opens her eyes. "Ugh. My head's spinning." She mumbles.

"That's good. That means the blood is rushing back in. Can you stand?" Axton questions.

He lets go of Maya as she sits up. She takes a long and drawn out breath and stands slowly. As she rises there are four sharp popping noises. Maya winces as the muscles in her legs stretch. She can't ignore the burning in her leg.

"Gah, what _is_ that?" She leans over a bit to inspect her leg. "Oh, fantastic." She grumbles.

The whirring of machinery captures their attention. "As I was saying. Allow me to introduce myself - I am a CL4P-TP steward bot, but my friends call me Claptrap!" The trio looks down at the little robot." Maya smiles a little, although it's hard to put on since she's freezing.

"Or they would, if any of them were still alive. Or had existed in the first place! Oh - I've got something for you." The Clap Trap continues. "Here - take this ECHO communicator that I totally didn't loot from one of these corpses! It comes with a class-twelve heads-up display, complete with a minimap! Now – come, come, friend. Let's get you inside."

The robot holds out a small, rectangular device that they all activate by pushing a small button. After attaching the heads-up displays to themselves, the robot moves forward.

"Wait." Maya asks at they make their way-albeit slowly-to wherever the robot is leading. "Has anyone seen Zero?"

Axton and Salvador exchange looks and shake their heads. Maya notes this, her face falls slightly.

"I guess it could be-." Salvador starts. His sentence is severed by the pained scream of someone nearby followed by the noise of clambering footsteps.

"Shit." Axton curses, looking for his turret. "Oh shit." He says as he pads himself down. Salvador searches himself for a weapon too.

Maya only looks around keeping an eye out for any trouble. If all else fails, well hey, the guys have an all powerful Siren on their side.

"We gotta get go-." Axton is knocked over by a body jumping from behind a corpse pile. Axton crosses his arms over his face as he kicks the attacker off of him. Getting his pulse up, he dashes over to Salvador and Maya, he waves his hands and hisses phrases. "Back to back." He spits. "Circle."

They can hear feet shuffling around behind the rubble and the growling of a madman.

"Maya, if there's a time to use that power of yours. Use it now, please." Axton says, keeping his eyes on the junk.

Maya holds out her arm. She's shaking from the fear and the cold. She can barely focus now, everything is muffled, she's almost sure she's got a concussion. But then again she's also almost sure she's afraid too. She's never been afraid before. In the abbey she's always been praised and cared for. She never had to fear anything before. But she's unarmed and injured; on top of that she's being hunted on this planet for ransom. That makes for some scary atmosphere.

Something emerges from one of the piles, Maya jumps the gun and closes her fist, pulling in her arm to her body. Normally this activates her powers but nothing happens and now the fear is gripping at her from the insides. It's eating her from within.

She sees another part of something moving and repeats the action.

"Maya…" Salvador drones.

"I know-I know." She replies. It's hard to keep the anxiety out of her voice. By this time, whatever's running around switches piles completely. Maya had a chance and took it. But nothing was happening.

"Something's wrong."

Axton glances over his shoulder at her. "What's going on over there, Siren?"

"My-my powers. They-they aren't. They're not working." Maya spits out.

Axton curses inside his head. "Alright. On the count of three we move to the yellow guy. Salvador first. He's the closest." There was this one little nugget of wisdom he'd learn over the years in the Dahl military. Do not engage an enemy unless you are left with no choice. You didn't know what kind of fire power someone possessed. You'd get your troop killed by doing something like that.

"Okay. One." Axton starts.

"TWO-THREE-SEVENTEEN!" Screams a hysterical voice. The attacker-a psycho actually- pops out from behind the rubble. Brandishing his crude weapon at the Vault Hunters, he laughs.

Axton and Salvador take off in opposite directions. Maya stands still, trying to Phaselock the Psycho. But something stops her.

"MAYA! What are you doing? Move!" Axton yells.

"I'M GONNA RIP YOUR …" The psycho stops a few feet in front of her. "Rip…rip…rip…" he repeats. At a loss for words he just stands there and stares at her.

Salvador from off to the side slowly approaches the pair. "You know this crazy man?"

"Yeah." Maya responds. "He saved me a few days ago."

…

"Man, this is great! Now that I've met a mighty Vault Hunter, I can finally join the resistance in Sanctuary, take vengeance against Jack for killing my product line, and repair my central processor so I stop thinking out loud! I wonder what it's like to have a belly button." Claptrap prattled.

The four vault hunters walked behind it, ahead of them they noticed a brightly lit igloo.

Salvador, Axton and Maya covered their arms with their hands as they followed. Maya's teeth had chattered against each other loudly. Axton looked at her and smirked.

"Cold, Siren?" He said looking at her attire. Maya nodded. "Y-y-yeah. I w-w-was t-told….Th-th-th-thaat…P-P-Pandora w-was a desert."

Axton looked ahead. His head was generating a million different small talk topics. Anything to get his mind off of the Psycho following behind them.

Axton couldn't help but hear the Psycho mutter things under his breath in incoherent sentences. Axton also didn't like how twitchy he was, it was making him nervous.

If Maya would let him, he would have smashed the Psycho in the back of the head with a piece of metal and be done with it. But Maya insisted not to. She said he was different.

Axton simply shrugged. Whatever.

**"****I'll explain everything soon, but know this – you're alive for a reason, and I… am here to help you." **

Axton stopped in his tracks. He looked to his fellow Vault Hunters. A strange expression came over Maya's face, Salvador looked around.

Axton made a face then slowly asked, "You all heard it too…didn't you?"

Curiously they peered over their shoulders at the Psycho. If he'd heard something they probably would never know. All that came out was, "I hear a voice. It runs through my mind like a frolicking SKAG, wondering it babies went. LITTLE DOES IT KNOW I've HIDDEN THEM. Away in a secret bunker all to myself!"

Whether that voice be the woman who appeared in everyone's mind or the one he's been raving about the last five minutes, no one would know.

"Let's just… keep going." Axton says.

…

When they reached the igloo, the little Claptrap unit fiddled with a code pad before opening the door.

Much to the group's delight it was at least a few degrees warmer in here.

"Sorry about the mess. Everything Jack kills, he dumps here – bandits, Vault Hunters, Claptrap units… If I sound pleased about this, it's only because my programmers made this my default tone of voice! I'm actually quite depressed!"

The igloo was surprisingly big. There was a long hall before the main room.

The hall was decorated with lockers and supply chest. Maya didn't concern herself with them.

Salvador and Axton however were very interested.

Axton opened a locker. "Hey, five dollars. I'm the richest man on Pandora. Whoo-hoo." He said pocketing the cash.

"Yeah, and I found an insta-health." Salvador chimed stabbing himself with the syringe.

"Axton. Salvador." Maya snapped. "We are in this little robot's home. He was kind enough to let us in. You could at _least_ not go through his stuff."

Salvador rolled his eyes.

"Whatever, _Mom." _Axton added. This didn't stop the two from going through the rest of the stuff. They ran off ahead to the main room once Salvador caught the sight of a furnace and beckoned Axton to follow him.

Maya was left to walk the rest of the hall- very slowly, Maya was sure her joints were freezing- with the Psycho.

Somewhere along the way he stopped at a supply box and opened it up, helping himself to its contents.

Maya looked down on him. "You too, huh Big Guy?"

…

The Psycho looked over his shoulder as he kneeled over the box.

"_Big Guy? Why does she keep calling me-oh yeah. We haven't told her our name." _The Psycho thought in his head. How could he go about this?

The Psycho forced himself to stand and looked into the Siren's eyes.

He bent his wrist and scratched his bare chest as he made a rasping noise, kind of like he had something stuck in his throat.

His inner self was thinking a soft approach, something simple for his outer self to follow. Something like, "I'm Krieg." or even just saying, "Krieg." Even after the years of experimenting and torture he remembered his own name. I

But he should know better than to take a soft approach on anything with his outer self.

"DO NOT ADDRESS ME, SIREN FLESH BAAG!" he yelled.

_"__Oh, God. Now you sound like a pompous asshole. What you meant to say was, 'I actually would prefer if you'd call me-."_

"-THE **KING** OF **AAAAALLLLL** MEATS! Tell the little ones to BOW BEFORE_ HIS MAJGESTY_ AND _always_ remember to TIP_ THE WAITRESSES."_

Outer Krieg stared down at Maya. He felt accomplished but his inner self was imaging hitting himself in the forehead with his palm.

…

Maya nodded, her face was confused and also a bit frightened.

"Ooookay then." She said. "I'll-um-I'll go find the boys." Maya turned on heel and started walking when Krieg caught her by the arm.

Maya froze and looked at him.

Clumsily he shoved an insta-health vile into her hands and got close to her face as if he were trying to intimidate her.

"A GIFT from KRIEEEG! The MEAT KING!" He announced as he threw his arm up in the air and stalked away from her.

"What the hell?" Maya whispered as she watched him walk away.

…

Salvador sat close to the fire, trying to warm himself. Behind him Axton was having a field day while raiding Claptrap's home and Maya was trying to get Krieg not to hit himself and not hit anyone else for that matter.

Salvador looked down at his arms. He stretched them and flexed making sure everything was on the up and up. He winced as he looked at his hands, torn and slightly bloody from the wreckage and red from the frost burn. He put them near the fire trying to get the blood back into them.

As he thought about warming his hands an image flashed in his mind. He knew exactly what would be great.

"Oh, Myra." He sighed.

"Who's that?"

Salvador looked up at Maya. She sat down next to him near the fire, copying his position.

"Who we talkin' about?" Salvador asked.

Maya rolled her eyes, a small smile graced her lips. "Myra." She repeated. "Someone special?"

Salvador barked a laugh. "Yeah, pretty special. But ah-well she's gone now."

Maya's smile fell a little. "Oh. I'm sorry to hear that."

Salvador shrugged.

Maya cocked her hear slightly and rested a hand on his shoulder. She patted his back, "It's okay. Maybe when we find this Vault you can dedicate something of it to her."

Before Salvador could say anything else Krieg bashed his head against the igloo wall. "Oh sonofa…" Maya hissed as she went over to hold him back. Salvador turned back to the fire. Axton came by a few seconds later, his arms filled with stacks of money and a few insta-health vials. Not to mention a bunch of miscellaneous ammunition.

"What's got Maya all sympathetic?" He says dropping his findings into a pile.

"I dunno, I never knew she could get so worked up over guns." Salvador says. "I meant I loved Myra, she was a good AR, not a lot of recoil. And an awesome paint job. But geez. I didn't love her _that_ much."

…

Sometime later the group witnesses a creature called a Bullymong force it's way inside and rips Claptrap's eye out.

Before anyone can do anything the creature gets away.

"The gun! The gun in the cabinet!" Claptrap says as he wheels around the igloo bumping into various things.

Axton goes over to a cabinet. He pulls out three repeaters and passes them out to Maya and Salvador.

Each of them load the guns with what they've found.

"Sorry, um. There were only three." Axton says looking at Krieg.

"I have GARDENING skills! And my shovel is HUNGRY for watermelon season!" Krieg screams holding up his buzz saw.

Axton shrugs. "Okay then."

There was a pause and a shuffling as the group prepared to go after Claptrap's eye. The sound of steel sliding against stone silenced the group. Their eyes gazed up at the hole in Claptrap's roof.

Axton, Maya, and Salvador aimed their weapons up. They waited, slowly a black figure slid in through the hole.

"Wait." Maya said holding her arm in front of Salvador, who was the closest to her.

She stepped under the whole when Axton called out, "Wait, is that Zero?"

Zero, who had dropped softly down onto the floor, stood towering over Maya who had gone up to him.

Quickly he tossed Axton a sliver, rectangular pad. "Ahh! My Turret!"

"Are you alright?" She asked looking at his suit which was torn from the left side of his chest all the way to the shoulder. However under the material was a white fabric that seemed to serve as a secondary padding.

Zero nodded and shifted to reveal a girl unconscious at his side. Maya knew recognized the robotic arm.

"That's the girl I met on the train a few days ago." Maya says cradling the girl.

Axton kneeled at Maya's side, brushing the hair out of the girl's face, "Well what the hell is she doing here?"

Maya shrugged. "Help me carry her over to that couch." Axton scooped up the girl in his arms and set her on the couch. While he did, he noticed the robotic arm. Maya sat on the edge examining her.

"Nothing looks bad." Maya said. "Nothing an Insta-health won't fix." Axton threw a glance to Salvador who was organizing the supplies.

"I gotta spare." Salvador said tossing the red vial to the Axton.

"Here." Axton held out the vial, Maya took it and inserted the needled into the girl's arm.

But as the needle pierced the girl's skin, she shot up right.

"AHHH. What the? Who? Where am I?" she shrieked looking at the vial in her arm that had drained itself into her. The girl quickly pulled out the vial and threw it aside.

Maya raised her hands in defense. "Relax, you're with friends. Zero had carried you in, you were badly injured."

The girl peered over Maya's shoulder to Zero who stood back.

"Oh." The girl muttered. She swung her feet over the edge of the couch and rubbed her eyes. "What happened? The last thing I remembered was sneaking onto a train and then I hear this weird announcement from the conductor. And then all these, like, robots started assembling and then, like, they were coming at me. Then there's this wicked explosion!" The girl spoke gaining rapidness in her words, her hands moved a lot and her face was very expressive.

Axton snorted and smirked.

"Was that you?" The girl asked incredulously.

"Damn Straight."

"Ooooh that was cool!" She stood now, offering her hand to Axton. "Name's Gaige."

"Axton." He replied, "Short guy with the orange shirt is Salvador, Mr. Beanpole over there you've already met. He's Zero. And that's Maya, she's the one with the pretty sweet tattoos."

Gaige went up to all of them and shook their hands, but fell short when she noticed Krieg in the corner tapping his buzz saw against the floor.

"Who's that?" She asked.

"That's Krieg. He's a Psycho." Maya answered.

"Like, he's crazy good at killing or he's got some issues?"

Maya shrugged, "Both."

Krieg turned around and peered at her from under his mask. He made a growling sound and went back to smashing his weapon into the ice.

Gaige waved him off. "So what are we all doing?" she asked happily.

"We?" Maya questioned.

"Yeah 'we'. I got blown up in the same train as you guys, correct me if I'm wrong but sharing near- death experiences automatically makes you BFFs."

Maya glanced worriedly over her shoulder at Axton who shrugged but stepped forward.

"I'll be honest with you, kid. We're Vault Hunters. We're going to get this Vault. It'll probably be a long journey, dangerous no doubt-." Salvador had barked a short laugh of amusement. "-and I just don't think it'd be all that safe for you."

Gaige scoffed. "I'll have you know I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. In fact, I've killed a woman." She said proudly.

Axton cocked an eyebrow, "Oh?" He challenged.

"Yes. With this." Gaige said making motion with her robotic arm. There was a mechanical gnashing sound as a red robot emerged from a blue portal in the ground.

"Introducing, DeathTrap!" She announced throwing her arms in the air for effect. But when the robot was fully summoned it stopped, jerked a bit and fell into a pile of pieces.

"Scary." Axton teased.

Gaige knelt down to the robot. "Oh no, my baby!" she cried as she examined his back panel. The group watched as she fiddled with a few wires. "Great, he's broken. It'll take me forever to fix this." Gaige mumbled. "I think he was damaged in the crash."

Axton chuckled arrogantly. "It's times like these where you need a reliable piece of machinery, like this." He said tossing his turret onto the floor. But similarly to Gaige's robot the turret had assembled only to revert back into its carrying mode.

"Oh c'mon. " Axton muttered shaking the pad.

Maya felt a small little morsel of hope, so she wasn't the only one missing something important.

Salvador had pitched in about the horrible pain in arms rendering him unable to hold much and Zero had said something about his suit being destroyed.

After a minute or two of group discussion they decided they'd get the little robot's eye back. They walked outside once everyone gathered their bearings. Claptrap lead them far towards the fork in the canyon.

Maya made a point to organize the group.

"I think it'll be best if split up. We might find the eye quicker."

The group grunted in agreement.

"So, who goes with who?" Salvador asked.

Maya glanced around running through different combinations of the six. She weighed the different skills that they displayed, although she was unsure of Gaige.

Krieg had walked up to her side and sat there in the snow.

She glanced down at him, actually everyone did. Krieg growled in response.

"I don't know about you guys, but something tells me Krieg wants to go with Maya." Axton had said sarcastically.

Maya looked down at Krieg again. There was something weird in Krieg's eyes. It was something that said, "I'm not going anywhere."

"Okay. Well I've got Krieg." Maya said.

Gaige's arm popped up, "Oh can I come! Pretty please?"

"Objection for me, I do not wish to be here…" Zero glanced over his shoulder distressed at Axton and Salvador. "…With these two…hunters."

Zero crossed his arms. Maya almost chuckled when Zero struggled to find a word.

"Well. Someone's gotta keep them in line Zero." Maya offered.

Zero scoffed but nodded.

Krieg rose from the ground as Gaige trotted to Maya's side.

"We'll keep going then split up at the fork in the canyon. Zero's team will take the low road, we'll take the high road. We'll meet up with the Claptrap unit." Maya finalized.

"Sounds good to me." Salvador agreed. "C'mon, let's see if we can find one of dem hairy-things." Salvador chirped as he dashed off into the snow.

Axton stood, his pose defiant. "Nope. I don't like this. This place gives me a bad feeling." A loud bang went off as Salvador's voice carried in the distance.

"I got one!"

Axton pouted and started slowly after Salvador. "Okay just a few!" Axton called after Salvador.

Zero sighed and shook his head, unsheathing his Katana.

He offered his hand to Maya. "I bid you good luck, stay sharp and vigilante please, watch your back Siren."

Maya shook his hand.

He offered a handshake to Gaige who eagerly accepted his hand.

Krieg sneered.

Zero dashed off to Axton and Salvador. The claptrap unit joined Maya's group.

"I guess I'm with you guys." The unit announced nonchalantly.

"Oh he's cool! I'm seriously diggin' the whole haiku thing." Gaige said in reference to Zero as she walked along with Maya and Krieg.

Maya just nodded along with her. Gaige stuck to her side, most of the way, Gaige just talked. She asked questions a lot. Maya answered. Maya was also happy to hear that Gaige had an interest in Sirens. She took into account that Gaige wanted to see her powers. Maya wouldn't disappoint.

But after a while she tuned Gaige out.

Her attention drifted to Krieg who lagged behind the two.

He wasn't muttering anymore, instead he stalked angrily behind the women.

His demeanor, his attitude, his very being was intriguing and also alarming to Maya. On one hand, she wouldn't want anyone covering her back other than this Psycho. On the other, she wouldn't want her back to him to begin with.

_What are you?_ Maya wondered as they walked.

…

Zero sighed inside his suit.

His travel companions were…less than professional.

They weren't as mature as he'd like them to be. Especially Salvador who had been in his mid thirties but then again, age didn't always entail maturity.

It also didn't help that Axton and Salvador ran around like children trying to one-up each other, w_ho can kill the most bullymongs, which can destroy the most piles, how many kills can you get with one gun, _it didn't matter to Zero.

These challenges were trivial. Zero could easily accomplish each one in a matter of seconds, and since it was so easy, he was bored.

Plus his stealth suit was ruined, his Deception device was destroyed in the train wreck, it'd be a while before he could find the proper pieces to repair it.

But that was just something to add to his long list of troubles.

"Hey, Zero, was it? You think I can nail a bullymong from here?" Axton asked, looking down the scope of a newly purchased sniper rifle.

Zero's shoulders bobbed up in a curt laugh. "Possibly Axton, although you are off a click, you'd miss by a mile." Zero answered.

Axton raised an eyebrow. "I'm lined up with the damn thing." He objected. Axton fired once for proof, he missed and hit the ground to the side of the bullymong. The beast charged in their direction, Axton watched Salvador through his scope, scream a battle cry and beat the monster to death with his hands.

"What I meant to say was that I am line up the damn thing's foot." Axton recovered in a weak matter-o-fact voice.

Zero held out his hand for the gun. "Give." Zero asked.

Axton handed over the gun begrudgingly.

Axton watched over Zero's shoulder as Zero fiddled with a few adjusting screws on the gun and waited for Zero to lift the rifle, shoulder it, and aim down the path at a young bullymong that was no larger than Salvador.

Zero fired once, aiming for the creature's head, the beast fell over, dead. Salvador, from the ground, jumped in approval and trekked further.

Zero turned back to Axton, feeling slightly smug.

"Whatever, the bullymong I wanted was an adult." Axton argued.

"I had killed mine sir, I accomplished a kill Axton, I am the winner."

"Oh a winner?" Axton said, his voice rising with a twinge of competitiveness in his voice, "You wanna talk about winning? First one to cover Sal from three _adult_ bullymongs _and_ reach the end of the canyon wins the loser's money, for a week." Axton challenged.

Behind his helmet Zero smirked, finally, a challenge.

…

Krieg realized two things about Maya.

One, she was as smart as she was pretty, and she was very pretty.

Two, She was damn scary when she needed to be.

After a long walk Gaige had found the eye, unfortunately, the bullymong wearing the eye found her.

Gaige had held out pretty well on her own for a while. That was until she was flung over the and empty shipment container and had broken an arm.

Gaige, being the fighter she was however, got back up, loaded her gun, and fired at the bullymong with all she had.

Krieg nodded, that kid had guts.

Krieg would have helped, but he was busy trying to cover Gaige from the other bullymongs who started to swarm her. And anyways he figured, she was doing fine on her own.

Maya had gone off in search of Claptrap not knowing that the robot had lead her on a goose chase and was there the whole time with Krieg and Gaige, stuck in the snow.

It wouldn't be long before she got back, and when she did, he knew she wouldn't be happy.

Maya had rejoined the group when Gaige had been thrown over.

Wasting no time, she followed Gaige in and fired off round after round with such an intensity and accuracy that to the psychotic part of Krieg, it was beautiful and frightening.

When she was casual and relaxed, Maya was fun, calm, collected, and also even a bit motherly.

But on the field, it was all business. Enemies were nothing more than numbers which she aimed to diminish.

What had frightened Krieg was the level of professionalism she displayed. It wasn't like anything he'd seen on Pandora before. Most killers were sloppy, maybe once in a while you'd get a decent bounty hunter. But Maya, how Maya killed, how she _leveled_ a battle field, now that was art.

Inspired, Krieg began to match Maya's skill, she had him beat in style and grace, but in the brute force department, Krieg had Maya beat.

"Rip the flesh!" he screamed as his buzz saw landed in the last bullymong.

He breathed heavily as Gaige finished off the biggest bullymong with her robot arm.

Finally, exhausted, Gaige collapsed to the ground, clutching her injured arm. Maya had gone over to Claptrap who was buried in the snow, pulled him out, and tucked him under her arm.

"Whoa, wait a minute minion." Claptrap said.

"From now on you're _not _leaving my sight." Maya's voice was as cold as the glaciers.

Krieg watched from a far as Maya knelt down and spoke to Gaige.

Gaige offered Maya a small smile. Maya responded with a pat on the back.

She glanced over her shoulder and waved Krieg over.

"You did really good, Gaige."

"Thank you, Maya."

Gaige turned and looked at Kreig, "You weren't bad yourself. I love the catchphrase."

_Say something nice back,_ Krieg thought.

"You're will is as strong as titanium, I'd like to make a bone brusher out of you."

Gaige's face went completely confused but then broke out into a huge smile.

…

The Vault Hunters all met up again at a large Hyperion storage unit.

Claptrap had claimed there were weapons and supplies inside. When the doors had opened everyone stepped inside, pleased by the warmer temperature and the loot.

Maya was looking for an Insta-Health vial for Gaige as well as inspecting a shot gun.

Axton sided up to her, a belt of grenades in his hands.

"So, you have fun?" He asked, addressing Maya's blood spattered attire.

"Yes, you?"

"Zero beat my bullymong-killer record by fifteen. Showoff." Axton joked.

Maya nodded, placing the Insta-Health vials in her storage deck unit.

She decided on the shot gun and strapped it to her back. The rest of the Vault Hunters were reloading, getting loot, trading.

"It's a nice little family we got, don't cha think?" Axton suggested.

Maya shrugged, "Wouldn't know. Never had much of a family. Just 'Big Brothers'." She said bitterly.

Thinking back to the long train ride, Axon recalled the small conversation they had about their pasts. Axton had shared anecdotes about his friends. Maya has shared anecdotes about all the times she'd tried to break out of her monastery.

It was obvious that she held contempt for that place. Axton could relate some to how Maya felt. Axton was young and homeless when he joined Dahl. His family life wasn't so great. He remembered as a teen how much he wanted to just escape.

Axton nodded, "Well… maybe it's time you got one, huh?" he said, but what he meant was, 'Maybe it's time we both got one.'

He didn't know much about the other Vault Hunters. He didn't know if they had great families, or not so great ones like himself. But what he did know was that they were all together now.

He looked at Maya who looked at the others with a pensive smile. Axton looked forward again and chuckled softly at Gaige and Kreig who were having a staring contest.

"I think we're a great family." Axton commented.

"Oh really?" Maya answered, her eyes still fixed forward.

"Totally. You're the mom, I'm the dad, Zero's our oldest son, good boy, doesn't listen to his father." Maya scoffed light heartedly, "Salvador's the baby, Gaige is your sister-in-law's kid."

Maya giggled, "What about Krieg?"

"Krieg?" Axton asked.

"The psycho, yeah that's his name."

"Krieg." Axton said again. "Yeah, he can be the dog."

Maya cackled louder this time.

"I agree with you on the mommy part. Salvador as a baby, frankly, scares me. But you? The dad? If anything Zero's the dad, if not the oldest kid."

Axton smirked, "Why's that?"

"Well someone's gotta keep the kids in line. Zero can do just that."

Axton rolled his eyes. "Well no family is perfect." He added, "We'll just have to work on it."

"Hey guys." Salvador said, "C'mon, we gonna sit here and chat all day or we gonna go find ourselves a vault."

Maya and Axton walked together over to Salvador.


End file.
